Your Vision for 2017Posted by Shalini (Dec 2016)

Your Vision for 2017
Life is like a canvas of opportunities, waiting for you to pick yours. There is one, or as many as you wish, with your name written on it. What have you chosen for 2017? What have you chosen for life? The way we handle our vision determines how and when our goals manifest. Creating an action plan helps us to stay focused.
Commitment, determination and perseverance are key factors in the process. Whenever we get diverted from the key factors, our action plan brings us back on track. I would like to share with you some powerful approaches to shape this New Year in the best possible way.

A daily list of small goals
Every morning, write down five things that you aim to achieve during the day. It does not have to be going to the moon and back. You can have goals such as to eat healthily, be kind to everyone, do 10 minutes of exercise or post something nice on Facebook. Before going to bed, check your list and rate your achievement. If you haven’t reached some goals, ask yourself what happened. Was there a lack of commitment or determination? If so, how can you improve? Or did you simply forget? No problem, you can add it to tomorrow’s list.

You can also make a weekly timetable where you allocate time slots for some more tangible goals such as going to the gym at 6pm on Tuesday if your goal is to keep fit, or meditating at 7am every morning if you want to be more relaxed. It is important that you write down your goals. With the thousands of thoughts that go through your head in a day, it is so easy to forget. You might prefer creating an e-version, which is fine as well, but make a print out. Once you close a file, you might forget about it, whereas a piece of paper is a constant visual reminder. Keep the papers and check your progress after a week, a month and so on.

Your lifetime vision

When you start with small goals which are easier to achieve and keep repeating the process day after day, your sense of achievement increases. This strengthens your perseverance to reach your long term vision. Your lifetime vision Action Plan uses the same principles as the daily one, except that it takes longer to achieve. Unlike the daily goals, there are more complications and the results are not tangible straight away. For instance, aiming to do a one-hour meditation is not the same as wanting to become an author or a world class athlete. There are many more factors involved including self-belief, competition and hard work.
It takes years of effort to achieve such visions and in the face of huge obstacles you might feel like giving up. Then is the time to remember the three key factors: Commitment, determination and perseverance. Ask yourself, how badly do you really want it? You have the possibility to become as great as you want to. Keep believing in your potential.

I learned that one of the best ways to overcome obstacles was by creating a vision board. If you are more of a visual person, you would enjoy doing your board as it keeps you focused. You can use pictures, drawings, stickers, whatever feels right, to represent your goal. A vision board can also be a large print-out of your goals written in bullet points. Some of us have a clear vision of what we want to achieve in life from a young age, while others are not yet sure about it. If you are in the second category, don’t worry! Ask yourself, ‘what makes my heart sing?’ Think about how you can make your light shine and your heart happy. Importantly, it does not have to be something to impress others. Just whatever feels right for you.

Don’t be scared to dream
The Universe has given all of us permission to dream. Let’s not be scared to reach for the stars. We have to push ourselves and do our very best to make it happen. Obstacles will come and they will go but our vision which comes from the heart, remains untouched. If you truly want it, the Universe will help you to get there.
I wish you a Happy New Year 2017!